I’ve downloaded a poncho from Optitex. When I unzip it into My Library it shows up, and I drag the prop’s runtime folder into mine to merge them. But the popncho does not appear in my library when I go into DS. I’ve had this problem with several props, they have loaded and unzipped but won’t appear in DS. I’ve refreshed, and done a hard drive search, but still no sign. The poncho has a different file structure than most other props. Usually after unzipping there’s just a ReadMe and a runtime, this however opens to: rainponcho>rainponcho> which contains Content (folder), rainponch (jpeg) and Star Pose (pz2). This Content file opens to another folder called Content which opens to reveal folders called Data, People and Runtime. I’ve dragged this runtime folder ifrom this location nto my own but it’s not showing in DS. Any ideas? My brain hurts.

the Data Folder contents goes in Data just under My Library, People folder contents goes into People folder just under My Library and Runtime contents goes into Runtime under My Library.

The best way is to Merge the Data folder from the zip with the Data folder under My Library. Then the same for the other folders. You did not mention which OS you were on but Win 7 will let you do Merge. That places all the files in the proper place.

If that is not clear and you need more info just say so. I have all the Optitex free items installed.

@ Richard: The .daz file is several layers under the people folder. Don’t know if it should be or not?

@ Jaderail : I merged the folders as you said, then in DS searched for poncho and up it popped. 4 copies of it in fact! 2 of the copies seem to want me to select something before they’ll load.but when I select Genesis, they still don’t load. The others load with or without genesis, but II can only select them using the scene tab (they have a cross instead of a tick next to them). They can scale and rotate and translate, but don’t morph or anything. Is this because they’re dynamic props? How do I get one of the ponchos to auotofit or change/morph/pose?

Dynamic items do not autofit you do a Fit to and then run the Dynamic Plugin for the drapping. I find if you scale the item larger than the character before you run the dynamic drape they will fit better. The shape goes back as close to normal during the drape as possible, so they will shrink to fit so to speak. The Dynamic plugin is under Window>Tabs>Dynamic Clothing. Then you run a static drape or an animated drape.

You might have more showing because of the way you tried to install the first time. Some items come with textures also. I would go back and remove all of them from the folders (Root folders on your PC, not from inside DS) then reboot and reinstall my way again.

What I mean is Use your PC to browse to the folders that hold all the files and remove all the ones Named (Red_Dress for Example) from the Data folder, the People Folder the Runtime Folder and any place you find them. Check the names in the Unzip and get rid of all those inside My Library in any place you find them. Reboot your PC, install your item once with the merge method and then run DS4.

@Richard : Thanks. I should have figured that out, really. I blame the fact that I’ve got a cold for not thinking clearly (well, that’s my excuse). But it would help if material files were titled as such, for example “Poncho mat 1” instead of just “Poncho 1”. When I do a search (because I can’t find something ) I sometimes get multiple results with the same or very similar titles, with no indication which is a material and which isn’t. Not a big problem as such, but it does waste time. Although this may be my fault because my Runtime needs sorting out better.

@ Jaderail : Hooray! I now have dynamic clothing working, so thank you for the info. A couple of questions: is Dynamic clothing better used for subtle poses (for example someone sitting on the floor wearing a robe) rather than a more extreme pose (a superhero wearing a cape, being punched through the side of a building) ? I’ve tried a pose with the aforementioned poncho, and although the draping worked, there was pokethrough of the arms and a leg, so i used the smoothing and collision options in the parameters (at a high, time consuming setting) and although this improved things, there was still a chunck of pokethrough. Is there a setting in Dynamic for the amount of draping, similar to the smothing/collision option? Or would I be better off using a clothing with morphs/autofit for more action based poses?

As for reinstalling files and stuff, sometime soon I’m going to go through my runtime and get it better organised and get rid of stuff I don’t want/need yet.

I appreciate your help guys; if not for people like you to explain things to idiots like me, I bet a lot of people would have given up on DS a long time ago.

Dynamic clothing has one real purpose, ..or one big benefit over “Conforming clothing”,.
It’s motion is simulated using a Physics system.
So, it’s main purpose is to be Simulated cloth, although,.. you can render a single frame “pose” of that if you want to.
It’s best to run the dynamic cloth simulation on an animated figure, then pick a frame you like and render it.

I’m not using animation at the moment (my old computer probably wouldn’t be able to handle it, it struggles with DS as it is), so I think I’ll mostly be using morphable clothes. Although I’m sure dynamic will come in handy sometimes (for cloaks and stuff like that), and it’s always handy to have (and know how to use) the option if I need it. And at least I now know a bit more about merging files and stuff.

load a pose at the start (frame 0) , then move the time-line forward and load another pose for the figure.
Now drag the time-line indicator backwards and forwards,. the figure is animated, moving from one pose to the next.
it shouldn’t be a strain on your system,... in fact, adding auto-fitting clothing, and rendering should be a bigger strain on your system, than creating a simple animation.

That’s why Aniblocks can preview as you roll the mouse over them…
there’s not much information in animation.

Add some dynamic clothing to your animated figure and then use the Dynamic cloth control to “simulate the movement of the cloth as it collides with the figure. (this will take a bit of time), depending on the cloth, and the length of your animation.
but the results should be impressive, or at least interesting enough to make you play with it.

I was going to try 3Dage’s suggestion but now I’m having a new problem. I put a dynamic sweater into the scene, went to Fit To genesis, and it sort of curled up and became a total mess, not fitting him at all. Same goes for the poncho. What gives? Also in the scene tab under the dynamic clothes there’s something called a “rig”. No idea what that is or what it does.

Dynamic items won’t autofit. DAZ Spooky I think said if you x-rotate the abdomen of the clothing it will snap into place, but I can’t recall the value used (this was on the old forum). The other option is to have your figure zeroed in frame zero and manually align the clothes, then place the pose in frame 30 and no an animated drape from frame 0 to frame 30.

Managed to set up a few frames of sample animation, and I can see that Dynamic clothes have a good flow to them. I shall have a play with this feature. Probably more useful for animation rather than the comic strips i do, but I’m sure it’ll come in handy for some stuff.

The advantage of the Animated Drapes are this. You can pick the one frame you like best and render it to a file. You could use that image in your story. Nothing say’s you have to render the full animation or just the last frame. It might come in handy for action stuff if you used the proper poses at start and end.

The advantage of the Animated Drapes are this. You can pick the one frame you like best and render it to a file. You could use that image in your story. Nothing say’s you have to render the full animation or just the last frame. It might come in handy for action stuff if you used the proper poses at start and end.

I did notice, when I set up frames with the poncho, that the better looking ones were in the middle. So, that’s how I’ll probably use it.